Signs of Spring?

Forsythia Buds - Mar 6 2015

Its been a long cold winter the proof of which many urban folks are being made well aware off with water mains freezing up and others being told to run their taps full time in order to prevent further loss of supply. Here out in the 'boonies' we have our own private well system and thus far it has not frozen despite the recent -20 temperatures, perhaps my failure to clear the snow back to the barn has helped insulate the pipe which runs under that area. There was much less snow this year than last but with no real thaws there is still a good 18” on the ground, I hope it also insulates the perennials out in the garden because the plants in the (largely unheated) greenhouse sure took a hit.


Even as the weather folks say its going to be a late and cool spring I am more optimistic on the days that the sun comes out, it seems like forever since we got a few sunny days. There sure were not many since I last wrote about a sunny day lifting my spirits! The last couple of days have further given me hope as we heard a Cardinal singing and a squirrel emerged and was running around giving our dog Nikki something to chase to work off her spring fever. Those weather forecasters are telling us we will have THREE DAYS in a row with temps ABOVE FREEZING next week, this after almost two months without any kind of thaw! Could this be the start of spring, I sure hope so.


So with the sun out and some small indications that warmer time are coming I feel much better......... till I look out the window and see the ladder up against the house as a reminder to get out and remove the snow and ice from the roof where it is creating an 'ice dam' that will create problems when (if) that partial thaw happens next week. Ah well you cant win them all but at least the race is taking place in SUNLIGHT!